Natural State Dog Training

12/08/2025

Welcome Hoxie! She started her board and train a little over a week ago. Getting dogs off leash is still one of my favorite things. Think shes enjoying the freedom?

11/11/2025

This is Yumi and she’s here for training. This was her pick up day and it looks much different than the first few times we met. She tuned me up in the consult and the first lesson and all we did was let her. It’s a powerful thing for the bite not to work. It’s not advantageous for her to keep doing what isn’t working. Obviously we have a lot of work to do to generalize it to all people but it was nice to see that she abandoned it pretty quickly with me when it had been a long term problem and the reason the owner sought help. Once I got her home the next step was showing her my intent through play and I never put the bite suit back on, we were good. Now we will repeat that process with others of giving her the opportunity and see what choice she makes then bringing the person into the game with us. She’s about 10 days into her program now and acts nothing like when we first met. She’s is my buddy now and I want to show her other people can be too.

10/23/2025

10/23/2025

Honey is taking a break from the farm dog life and boarding here for a bit. She was here for training a few years ago. Her owner mentioned that her recall was needing a touch up so we’ve managed to get a little work done too so she can get back to it.

08/21/2025

When training dogs first get here they usually spend some time on a back tie. It gives them a chance to be included and get familiar with their new surroundings before they have the skill set to do so at liberty. Most dogs protest a bit in the beginning. This is Ammo and his protest.

08/01/2025

Play can be used in so many ways. It helps me teach rules and boundaries, the concept of punishment, it can be a reinforcer for obedience, and it’s really helpful in showing my intent to the dog along with many other things. Basically play gives us the foundation we will use for everything else. But it doesn’t always go as planned and it’s not always easy. I think that’s where some people can go wrong. I can see how a client that’s trying to teach a game to their dog can get discouraged when the dog doesn’t seem into it despite all their effort. As a trainer I understand feeling a little disappointed in not being able to use play as a functional reward. But if we remember the main reason we are doing it is to have fun with our dog then the rest of that stuff is secondary. This is a video of me trying to play with Max. It hasn’t gone as planned. It’s not a great game. But we do this every day and he looks forward to it. Sometimes play can be just about play.

06/26/2025

Foxxy enjoying some off leash time

06/16/2025

Foxxy is about a week into her board and train. She is pretty nervous out in public. When we are passing people in the park she is really uncertain and uses all of the flexi leash to go as wide around them as possible. It’s getting better but that’s how we started. In this clip we are playing tug while a maintenance guy is working on the field. Once she was full of endorphins from play we went to meet him and it couldn’t have gone better. Now she has a new friend that started as a scary stranger. And by the way, victory laps are her favorite thing ever.

05/27/2025

This is Sunny and this was our third private lesson. Sunny’s owner reached out because of some pretty intense reactivity. They already had a great foundation. They do tons of off leash hikes and her recall is great. She had good obedience and loved tug. But on leash city walks were another story. So we started lesson 1 on tug gaining control of the arousal and teaching what both yes and no mean. Lesson 2 was on a flexi in a park with dogs in sight just working more recall but adding in a release command. On lesson 3 we said no to the reactivity. I brought my new guy and we also had someone else show up with their dog as planted distractions. Sunny reacted to both. Once we said no she started to explore other options. We ended up packing up for a peaceful neighborhood walk and ended with Sunny playing tug while she had new dogs in the audience. Her owner reached out over the weekend to give an update. Sunny had walked by dogs in the neighborhood and a busy park without issue. If you have been struggling with your dogs reactivity for a long time please reach out, it doesn’t have to be that way.

04/16/2025

Cleo the frenchie got here a few days ago for the board and train. We are doing the usual things but this time with my dogs is really important. Most of our day is spent just doing this, hanging out with little expectation. She has changed a lot in a week and most of the change so far is from their influence, not mine.